Cataclysm Screenshots of the Day
Today we have another screenshot of the Southern Barrens and a fairly interesting view of the Abyssal Maw, featuring a Faceless One caster.

World of Warcraft "Tap Chat" Pedal by Creative
Earlier today, an announcement was posted on the official site about a new "Tap Chat" pedal, it was removed a few minutes later but it looks like Creative plans to release it very soon. The announcement is gone from all Blizzard website but the Tap Chat seems to be available on Creative UK Website
[blizzquote author=Blizzard source=http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml]You can now add even more functionality to the award-winning Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Headset with the new Tap Chat foot pedal accessory. By mapping your push-to-talk key or favorite macro to this foot control pedal, you can keep your hands totally free to control the game. As a bonus, the Tap Chat pedal will also come with an exclusive set of World of Warcraft logo lenses to further customize the look of your headset.[/blizzquote]

Cataclysm Beta - European Guild Contest (28th of June to 23rd of July, 2010)
[blizzquote author=Blizzard source=http://www.wow-europe.com/en/contests/guildcontest/index.html]Guildmasters, it’s time to earn you and your guildmates a gaze into the Cataclysm! Gather your friends, head over to your favourite spot and showcase your impressive photography skills. Every week, for five weeks, the 100 most impressive screenshots will earn you and your guild 10 keycodes to access the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Beta!

What are you waiting for? All you need to do is take a screenshot of you and your guild showing off your creativity in terms of breath-taking landscapes, lighting, impressive camera angles and epic poses. The only requirement is that the word “Cataclysm!” is displayed in a chat bubble together with your character and guild names! Please remember that submissions missing the chat bubble and guild name tags will be ineligible to win.

The Guildmaster will then proceed to send us the screenshot and their selection of 10 Battle.net account e-mail addresses using the dedicated webform.

Here is some advice to help you with your submissions:

Use the environment to your advantage! Points of interest, dungeons, even bosses are there to help you.

Pimp your screenshot by setting the in-game graphics settings to the max! There is no need to worry about your frame rate since the submission is a still image.

We strongly encourage you to disable your addons while taking the screenshot. Keep the default interface on and capture your picture of awesomeness!

Cloth Itemization in Cataclysm
Yes. If it has +hit on it, it might be attractive to a mage, lock or Shadow priest. If it has +Spirit on it, it will be more attractive to healing priests. If it has neither stat on it, then it might be attractive to any cloth wearer. (Source)

Spirit in Cataclysm
You'll need enough Spirit to have good regen. That probably doesn't mean you're going to pass on every item without Spirit.

Spirit is a weird stat that is technically primary but has more in common with stats like crit and haste. What I mean is that if you found an item without Intellect, you'd almost certainly pass on it because that likely means the item has Agi or Strength instead. But if you find an item with Int but no Spirit, it might be a good upgrade. (Source)

I think its the fact that there is very little to do in Wow atm, unless your still hammering around inside ICC10/25 - We are getting the Ruby Sanctum within the next few days, and after that its 3-4 months of playing alts or bickering with ppl in /trade...

That's sort of immaterial to the point. It explains why people *want* Beta to be soon, but has no bearing on the fact that they're making completely unrealistic predictions based on their desires. No amount of desire on the part of the user base can change the reality of development time lines, just as no amount of desire on the part of fans can change the reality of publishing time lines. Predictions should be based on facts, not on desires. Basing predictions on desires is simply a particularly unproductive form of gambling that sets people up for disappointment.

At this point I think it *is* reasonable to expect beta in the next few weeks. The information now very much points to a mid-July to very early August Beta, but that's based on contest data, an understanding that the class talent trees and bonuses are starting to be more than skeletons, and a bit of guess work based on the release schedule WOTLK used. These are facts, not hopes. I could still be wrong (it's still just my prediction), but at least I can support my thesis with more than "IWANTITNAO!"

Well ... no. I guess you could if you were alone in your room (or mom's basement) but if people play anywhere near others like a talking spouse or arguing teenagers or screaming kids, then no.

I don't see why people think a pedal is an insane idea. It may not fit everyone's play style, but styles aren't right and wrong, they're different. Just because someone prefers voice activated or has a free finger to PTT doesn't make the whole concept of a foot pedal stupid.

i think the foot pad is a great idea, i'm really happy the way controls for mmo's have evolved, we have seen the naga with 12 buttons and the n52 which are both amazingl pieces of hardware, what i wanna see , i not necessarily more controls(32 button mice) but much smarter controls,i LOVE my razer naga though i think the number of buttons it has is a little more than i need but covers alot of what i use.I'm glad to see a foot pedal in the mix.Although skype's buttonless talk feature is much better, i do see alot of uses prob pvp wise for the pedal.Like i said we can bind something else to it hopefully which would be great.Those who don't know what i am talkin bout can take a look at swifty's controller vids on youtube to see what i mean.

Hey, i have a question about the contest, might be dumb one ...i might not understand it correctly .

The country restriction is applied to all of the people in the said guild, or is it only for the guild master, that needs to be in those "select" countries?
The way i understand it is....
Even if most of the guild members are from countries not listed, they can still get the key, because the guild master is eligible and he is the one entering in the contest.
Or did i misunderstand it?

I've been using a foot pedal for a long time... early TBC, I believe. I built it using a USB to Joystick adapter and a standard 15 pin joystick schematic. The whole thing cost me about $30 and runs using the Windows standard game controller drivers, with only one button mapped to actually do anything (Ventrilo PTT key). Although it could make for interesting gameplay to map it as a modifier key instead.

I was also thinking about building a DDR-style dancepad controller and mapping tanking macros to it for my warrior towards the end of TBC. I never actually went forward with that, although it could have made for some funny videos...